Cloning and sequence analysis of a p40 structural protein gene of Helicoverpa zea nuclear polyhedrosis virus

A gene encoding an occluded virion structural protein was isolated from an expression library constructed from the Helicoverpa zea S-type nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) isolate HzS-15 using both polyclonal and monoclonal antibody screening. The gene was located within a Pstl-Sall fragment of the HzS-15 genome spanning from 96.5 to 97.3 m.u. Sequencing analyses revealed a long open reading frame of 927 nucleotides that predicted a protein of 37 kDa in size. Immunoblot analyses using the monoclonal antibody ENV409 demonstrated that the gene corresponded to a 40-kDa protein (p40) in SDS-polyacrylamide gels that was present exclusively in enveloped occluded virions but not in extracellular budded virions or envelope-stripped nucleocapsids. A p40 protein-specific transcript was detected at 16 hr postinfection in HzS-15-infected Hz 1075/UND-K cells and remained until 22 hr. Primer extension analyses demonstrated that the p40 protein-specific transcript started at -49 nucleotides from the ATG start codon within an ATAAG consensus pentamer found in late protein genes of Baculoviruses. The deduced amino acid sequence of the HzS-15 p40 protein gene shared 44 and 45% sequence homology with the p40 proteins of Bombyx mori NPV and Autographa californica NPV, respectively.